


Love on the Children's Ward

by skullsandfairylights



Series: My Shipping List [3]
Category: Kyou Kara Maou!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 05:29:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4292487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skullsandfairylights/pseuds/skullsandfairylights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wolfram is being forced to volunteer at a local children's hospital by his teacher and half-brother, Mr Voltaire. He just has to keep some children company for a bit, not too hard. Then he meets Greta and her big brother, Yuuri and things get a bit more complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love on the Children's Ward

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU meaning it is an alternate universe. In this alternate universe, things aren't run exactly as they are run in this world which is my excuse for being ignorant on how volunteering works in hospitals.  
> I also realise that I probably didn't need to list every character mentioned but I was bored, so sue me. Please don't actually, I have no money.  
> Please forgive any errors in grammar/spelling. I tried to write this quickly while I was still in the KKM! mood. If you spot a mistake, let me know and I'll fix it asap.  
> Thank you for taking the time to read this, it is possibly the longest fic I have written so far and I am kind of proud of that. So please, I hope you enjoy reading :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to various others as they all come from either Kyou Kara Maou! or some other anime.

Wolfram let out a sigh as he stared up at the earth-yellow brick building, the bright, multi-coloured letters spelling out ‘Children’s Hospital’ hurting his eyes. He really did not want to be here but he had no choice, and he had already made his way here and he knew that if he just left now, he’d never hear the end of it from his teacher and half-brother, Mr Voltaire. Wolfram straightened out his clothes and walked into the hospital building.

Inside, there was just as much colour inside as was on the sign outside. The walls were covered almost completely in crayon drawings. There seemed to be pictures of everything, from dinosaurs attacked cities to leprechauns dancing on rainbows, from crudely drawn family portraits to firefighters to doctors and nurses that probably worked here. In the middle of the circle of chairs that made up the waiting room, rainbow-coloured foam jigsaw pieces. There was a collection of toys scattered on the floor, duplo blocks of every colour and a small selection of cars and trucks. Wolfram also noted the out-of-date women’s magazines - he knew because they were his mother’s favourite thing to leaf through when she had a spare minute - piled on the knee-high tables placed between some of the chairs. The waiting room was mostly empty, only a young couple with a sleeping toddler spread over both of their laps, who had their arm wrapped in a little cast. They both looked up him as he entered, but quickly went back to speaking in hushed voices, the mother carefully petting the toddler’s hair.

The blonde haired-teen walked towards the reception desk where a blonde, young women, in a red-pink shirt sat, typing away at her computer. As he approached, she looked up and smiled at him, clicking briefly before turning her full attention to him. “Good afternoon, how can I help you?” She asked.

“I’m here to volunteer on the ward? I was told to meet with Mr Christ?”

“Oh, of course! I’ll message him right away! If you’d just like to take a seat…” She trailed off as she gestured towards the circle of chairs. Wolfram nodded and sat in the seat closest to him. He sat in silence, trying to stop himself from watching the small family across the circle. The toddler shifted minutely, still deep in sleep and it seemed like the parents were both thankful for this, judging by the faint purple bags under their eyes.

A few moments later, a man with long silver hair tied up into a ponytail, dressed in nurse’s scrubs walked in holding a clipboard. “Wolfram Bielefeld?” He asked into the room. Wolfram stood up and joined the man. “Hello, thank you for coming in today. My name is Günter Christ, but you can call me Günter.”

“It’s no problem, if it gets Mr Voltaire off my back for a few weeks, I’ll do anything.” Wolfram followed Günter down the corridor, glancing at the numerous other drawings - drawn in crayon, pencil and felt tip - that lined the walls.

“He is not all bad, he just needs practice at interacting with people.” Günter spoke as if he knew Mr Voltaire personally, which made some sense since Wolfram could remember his teacher saying that he had spoken with one of his friends at the hospital to gain him a place in the volunteering programme. “Anyway, today you’ll just be speaking with some of the children, most are only going to be in for a day or two but I’m sure they’ll enjoy having someone who isn’t a doctor or nurse to talk to.” They had reached the ward by this point, ten or twelve beds lined the walls, each with a curtain circling the bed on the ceiling to separate the beds when it was needed. “Today, you’ll spend some time with Natsu, Greta and Maka although I would think that Maka will probably just want you to sit with her while she reads. She loves her books.” Wolfram nodded, listening as Günter briefly told him about each child; how Natsu loved everything to do with dragons and was in for treatment for mild burns after he tried to help make dinner for the other children at the orphanage where he stayed, and how Maka loved books and how she was often visited by her best friend, Soul, and how Greta greatly admired her big brother and loved playing with her dolls and ponies.

Wolfram was then dropped off beside a bed that held a boy with a shock of pink, spiked hair that looked to be about seven years old. The boy hadn’t noticed the either males yet, he was too engrossed in what his toy plush dragon was doing as he made it fly around his bed. Günter cleared his throat quietly to draw the boy’s attention before he added a “Natsu?” for good measure.

The young boy looked up at Wolfram and Günter. “Hi Mr Nurse! Who’s that?”

“This is Wolfram. He’s going to spend some time with you until your friends arrive, does that sound good to you?” The young boy nodded and Günter gently nudged Wolfram forward towards the bed. Wolfram pulled up a seat and sat down next the bed.

“Hi Natsu, who’s this then?” Wolfram gestured to the dragon plush with his head.

“This is Igneel! He’s a fire dragon!” That set the young boy off and Wolfram could do nothing but nod along and listen as he learned how Natsu had named his dragon after his father. Natsu explained how his dad disappeared when he was a toddler and how he now lived in Fairy Tail, one of the local children’s orphanages. At one point, Wolfram was asked to get the collection of what looked like Barbie dolls from a box stored on the floor next to the bedside table. Natsu then started to act out scenes and adventures that he and his friends had had, with Igneel swooping down every so often, breathing fire and making the stories sound more and more unbelievable. This continued until a young girl’s voice sounded, calling “Natsu!”

A moment later, a young girl with blonde pigtails appeared beside the bed. She stopped short when she noticed Wolfram before she smiled widely, “Oh, hello, I’m Lucy, Natsu’s friend.”

Wolfram opened his mouth to respond when a red-haired teenage girl appeared behind Lucy with a silver-haired boy of Natsu’s age. “Who are you?” asked the older girl, looking tense and cautious of the stranger.

“My name’s Wolfram, I’m just here keeping Natsu company until you got here.” The blonde boy explained.

The teen girl relaxed and gave a small smile, “Oh, well, I’m Erza and this is Gray,” She placed her hand on the boy’s shoulder. “and you’ve already met Lucy.” Wolfram then stood and said his goodbyes before he left to find Günter to find out where he was meant to go next. When he found the silver-haired man, Günter immediately led him to where a young girl was sitting up in her bed. She had toasted brown skin and dark cinnamon coloured hair and was sitting underneath the pale hospital blanket, a collection of dolls and toy horses laying on the sheets around her. Wolfram also spotted a baseball amongst the tangled, plastic hair.

“Greta,” Greta looked up as Günter spoke, “this is Wolfram. He’s going to keep you company for a little while.” Greta stared at the blonde teen for a few moments before she looked to the nurse, a sad look on her face.

“Where’s Yuuri? I want Yuuri.” She stated and Wolfram’s heart almost broke at the sight of her sad face.

“Yuuri will be here soon, don’t you worry Greta, he never misses visiting times. Wolfram is just here to speak to you until then.” Greta still didn’t look too happy but she nodded none the less. Günter gave Wolfram a smile before heading off, saying that he would return to show him to the last child, a young girl named Maka when Greta’s big brother arrive. Wolfram took up his seat beside the bed.

“Hi Greta, how are you?” Wolfram asked, smiling as the girl moved some of the toys around on the bed.

“I’m okay, I can’t wait for Yuuri to get here! He’s going to teach me the rules of baseball and tell me all about his day!” Greta perked up as soon as she started to talk.

“Yuuri is your big brother, isn’t he?” Greta nodded so violently that Wolfram worried for her neck. “Is he a big fan of baseball, then?” Greta nodded again, though not as violently as before.

“He’s really good at it! He’s the captain of his school team and he plays everyday!”

“Well, he sounds like the perfect person to teach you about the game.”

“Yeah!” Greta’s face turned serious for a moment, “So do you play baseball?”

“Unfortunately, my skills don’t lie with baseball, I prefer developing my sword skills with sports like fencing.” Wolfram explained.

“What’s fencing? I haven’t heard of that?” Wolfram then explained the aim of the game and the rules. He told her about the different swords used and about the kind of protective gear that fencers need to wear when participating in a match. Wolfram was starting to explain how he had gotten into the sport - how his older, half-brother had joined his university fencing club and how it had turned into a sibling bonding exercise, their mother had enforced - when Günter appeared with a boy Wolfram’s age. He seemed to be very monochrome from what Wolfram could see with both black hair and eyes and what looked like a completely black uniform.

Greta looked up as the nurse appeared and when she saw the boy, she immediately discarded the doll that she had been fiddling with as she listened to the blonde. She raised her arms and shouted, “Yuuri!”

The boy smiled and stepped forward, pulling the young girl into a hug that lasted almost a full minute, before he pulled away, kissing her hair as he did. “Hi Greta, did you miss me?” Greta nodded, her face almost split into two by her smile. The boy, Yuuri, then looked over at Wolfram. “Hi, I’m Yuuri, Greta’s big brother.”

“I’m Wolfram, I was just keeping her company until you arrived.”

“Yep! Wolfram was just telling me about fencing.” Great announced, staring up at her big brother.

“Really? Well, I expect that he would know all about since he’s one of the best on the school team.” Yuuri was then met by two frowning faces. “What?”

Greta looked over at Wolfram, “You didn’t say that you were on the school team?”

“I didn’t think it was that important,” Wolfram turned his gaze from the young girl up to her brother, “but how did you know I was on the school team?”

“I’m friends with Ken Murata, he manages different sports events for the school and he often drags me along to see them. Last month, I had to come and see the fencing competition between our school and that private one, what’s it called again? Dee-something? Anyway, I saw how you got to the finals. It was bad luck you didn’t win.” Yuuri explained as he slid up onto the side of the bed beside Greta who quickly shuffled away to let him on. Yuuri smiled down at his little sister as he placed an arm around her. Wolfram meanwhile was wondering how he did not recognise him. Wolfram couldn’t remember ever seeing the boy before.

Before Wolfram had the chance to embarrass himself, Günter cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, but Wolfram, you still have another patient to see before I can sign off you volunteering for today.” The blonde nodded and stood up from his seat. He said his goodbyes to Greta and Yuuri before following the nurse to another bed. This bed held another girl but when they arrived, she already had a visitor. “Hello, Soul, did you get out of band practice early?”

The white-haired boy turned from the young, fair-haired girl on the bed and looked up at the nurse. “Oh, what’s up nurse Günter?” His eyes were red, Wolfram noticed as the boy looked between the two newcomers.

“I was just coming to introduce one of our new volunteers to Maka. He was going to keep her company until you arrived.” The nurse explained. “However, since you are already here, I shall just have to find someone else for Wolfram to talk to.”

“Well, I wanted to come and see Maka for longer today since I’m busy tomorrow. We’re performing a small concert with some other up-and-coming bands.”

“I thought you said it was a battle of the bands kind of thing?” The girl piped up, closing her book while keeping her finger inside to save her place.

“Well, yeah but every concert where we perform with Kishin Egg is kind of like a battle of the bands. Except it’s not ‘cause we are totally cooler than them.”

“Of course, Soul,” the girl, Maka, spoke with a sigh, it seemed like she was used to dealing with the boy, “Death Scythe is way cooler than Kishin Egg. It’s just a shame that I won’t be able to see the concert.”

“Don’t worry, Maka, we’ll give you a private concert when you’re discharged. You’ll have the best seat in the house.”

“More like a garage.” Maka muttered.

“Whatever, it’s just ‘cause you’re so stubborn that you won’t even ask your dad if we could use the lecture room after school.” Soul snapped, looking angry.

“He is not my father.” Maka’s statement sounded full of venom despite it being innocent enough.

The two young teens continued to argue, somehow managing to have a heated argument while still keep their voices down. Günter placed a hand on Wolfram’s shoulder and pulled the teen away with a quiet, “Come.”

They headed in another direction and came to a bed with another girl. “Beatrice’s father is unable to come in today due to a meeting, so if you could keep her company until the end of visiting hours, I would be grateful.” Wolfram nodded and stood to the side of the nurse. Günter introduced Wolfram and the girl smiled up at him as he took a seat next to the bed. Günter left them and Wolfram spent the next hour and a half playing with a collection of dolls despite the fact that he didn’t care for how Princess Beatrice tamed the heart of the evil (except not really because Beatrice got scared) dragon, Pochi. But Wolfram played along, putting on silly voices and cutesy little roars as he acted out the dragon’s role.

When visiting hours were up, Wolfram found Günter and got the nurse to sign the little booklet created by his teacher to ensure that he fulfilled all of his volunteering hours. Then he headed home to find a note from his mother saying that she would be out late and that there was money for a take-away on the counter by the fridge.

~~~

The next few weeks followed a similar pattern. Every Friday after school, Wolfram would make his way to the hospital and spend some time talking and playing with kids on the ward. He spent more time with Natsu until he was declared well enough to go back to the orphanage. It was sad to see him go but Natsu had obviously liked having Wolfram there since when he arrived one Friday, Günter handed him a crudely drawn picture of what he believed to be himself, the pink-haired boy and a dragon. The boy had obviously had one of the nurses write a message as it said ‘Thank you, love Natsu’ in a neat black font. For a moment, Wolfram thought that maybe volunteering wouldn’t be that bad.

He almost spent some time with Maka before she was discharged. In the time he spent with her, he found out that she attended the Dorothy Williams and Michael Abrams Academy (or DWMA Academy as most knew it) and that he father was the deputy headteacher and desperate to have father-daughter-bonding time. He also learned that she wasn’t on good terms with her father due to her father’s wandering hands and the divorce that her mother had filed for.

Wolfram also spent time with a young boy named Nagisa who clutched desperately at his yellow octopus-alien plushie and spoke constantly about his class at school, speaking very highly of a certain boy named Karma. He met a boy named Ciel whose only visitor seemed to be a well-dressed butler. It made Wolfram wonder whether the boy had incredibly rich but busy parents who would send an employee to visit their son rather than make the journey themselves. There was also an older girl named Tohru who was on first-name terms with a lot of the nurses, and Konata, a girl with electric blue hair who spent most of her time ignoring the violet-haired girl who visited her by playing on a handheld games console.

Over the weeks, Wolfram also met a few of the other volunteers. Asuna was the first to introduce herself. She smiled brightly and welcomed him, even though Wolfram was sure that she knew he didn’t choose to be here. She had shown him some of the ropes and spoken to him during their short breaks. She had explained that she had started volunteering after her boyfriend, Kazuto had gotten in a car accident while on his motorbike. She had spent a lot of time keeping him company during his recovery and found that she loved helping.

Asuna had later introduced him to Yukio who had a similar story for how started out. His twin brother had gotten beat up pretty bad after he had provoked some bullies. Then after he had berated his brother, he found that he liked speaking to people and helping them so he stuck around.

Wolfram also saw a lot more of Greta and Yuuri Shibuya. He would spend a few minutes with Greta before her brother arrived and usually stuck around to talk to both of them for a few moments after too. That was around the time when Wolfram also started to noticed Yuuri at school.They often waved to each in passing - mostly Yuuri but occasionally Wolfram would indulge the child-minded boy. Eventually, they started to class themselves as friends and Wolfram started to spend less time in his brother’s classroom during breaks and lunch.

The trouble started one day after his usual talk with Greta. Greta had asked an innocent, childish question; “Are you and Yuuri going to become boyfriends?”

Wolfram had choked on a laugh and explained to Greta that they wouldn’t, much to her dismay as she had wanted them to get married - a statement which made Wolfram’s cheeks turn to fire. However, it got him thinking. The blonde boy hadn’t noticed it until then but when Yuuri stepped into view and approached, the bed, Wolfram felt his heart rate gradually increase. He felt his cheeks heat up again and immediately excused himself, feeling almost guilty at the confused, hurt look on the dark-haired boy’s face.

Wolfram had quickly sought out Asuna who he felt would be able to help him. Although he made it difficult by not telling her anything directly. But she wasn’t stupid. She quickly realised what was going on and directed him to the break room where she explained what Wolfram was feeling and that it was normal. She explained that it didn’t matter if they were the same gender or the opposite gender and that, as clichéd as it sounded, love is love. Wolfram accepted her words and took her advice by taking the rest of the day off to think over what had happened.

~~~

With the signed book in his pocket, Wolfram said goodbye and headed out of the hospital. As he was leaving, Yuuri was also on his way out. Wolfram had been trying to avoid him, to no avail since they had become friends, wherever Wolfram went, Yuuri went to. The blonde was just thankful that had figured out what he was feeling. He had decided that he like Yuuri more than a friend but didn’t want to rush or ruin anything so he kept quiet.

“Hey Wolfram.” Yuuri greeted as they walked side into the car park of hospital. “Are you headed home too?”

“Yeah, I need to pick up some dinner first though. My mother is supposed to be staying out tonight.” Wolfram thought about how there was a chance that she wouldn’t be seeing his mother until the morning and then thought about what he could make himself quickly that would fill him up enough.

“If you want, my mom’s making curry and she always make too much. She also loves meeting new people so it wouldn’t be a problem.” Yuuri offered. Wolfram felt his eyebrows furrow before the other boy suddenly stuttered, “I mean, that’s only if you want. You don’t have to.”

“Sure.” Wolfram didn’t even realise he’d spoken until he matched the voice as his own. Yuuri appeared to be just as surprised but he seemed to recover more quickly than Wolfram because he suddenly smiled.

“Great, come on, my big brother Shouri’s picking me up in five minutes so we just have to wait for him.” Wolfram nodded and followed the dark-haired boy towards a nearby bench. Both teens sat down and for the first few moments, there was silence. Then after exchanging a few sentences each on the weather, homework and the teachers at their school, conversation seemed to flow naturally. Then when an older version of Yuuri pulled up beside them, both teens got into the car, the blonde hesitating slightly.

“Hey, little brother, who’s this?”

“This is Wolfram, he goes to my school and I invited him round for dinner.” Yuuri explained, plugging in his seat-belt. “You know how mom always makes too much and loves have company, Shouri.” Shouri sighed but didn’t argue, as he pulled out into the traffic.

Wolfram stayed quiet for most of the drive to the brothers’ home, listening in to as they both talked about their days. Wolfram managed to gather that Shouri was currently in university studying politics and hopes to work for the government when he graduates. Yuuri obviously looks up to his big brother and it’s obvious that Shouri doesn’t mind and wants to do everything he can to keep his brother safe and happy. Wolfram watches the brotherly affection and feels a mild form of envy wash over him, wishing he had a bond like this with either of his two half-brothers but before he could dwell on the thoughts for too long, the car stopped and Yuuri and Shouri moved to get out.

They all went straight into the house, Shouri calling out to say that they were back. The voice that responded was female and very excited. “Shouri? Yuuri?” The words were then followed by fast footsteps and a woman with long brown hair gathered together into a blue bow. She took one look at the two dark-haired males and rushed forward, pulling them into a big hug. When she noticed Wolfram, she suddenly stepped away. “Yuuri-dear, who’s this?”

“This is Wolfram from my school. I invited him for dinner since his mom wouldn’t be home in time for dinner. I thought it would be nice for him to try some of your curry.” Yuuri’s words seemed to make the woman smile even wider.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Wolfram! You can call me Jennifer!” The woman then rushed towards Wolfram and wrapped him into a big hug. Wolfram stiffened, unsure of what to do until Yuuri cleared his throat. Looking around, Wolfram noticed that Shouri had already left, leaving just the three in the entranceway of the house. “Well, come on then boys, we better be quick or the curry’ll get cold! That’s if Ken-dear has left any.”

Yuuri’s head snapped towards his mom. “Ken’s here?”

“Of course! He arrived just a few minutes before you did.” Jennifer then headed into the kitchen, leaving the boys behind.

“Sorry about her,” Yuuri gives a small shrug of his shoulders, “I did warn you that she liked meeting new people.” He spoke as if his words explained everything. Yuuri then motioned for Wolfram to follow and both boys made their way to the kitchen.

When they enter the room, they see that the dining table is occupied by Jennifer, Shouri and Ken, a boy that before Wolfram would only have seen around school or at one of his fencing matches. Ken smiles and waves to Yuuri and gets a sigh in return.

“Don’t you have a house of your own? And your own family?”

“Sure, but they’re not nearly as nice as yours.” Ken answers with a friendly smirk. He then looks over at Jennifer, “And the food’s not nearly as good.”

Jennifer beams at that, “You know that you’re welcome anytime, Ken-dear! Just ignore Yuuri-dear.” Yuuri lets out a sigh before taking a seat opposite Ken, next to Shouri. Wolfram hovers for a moment until Yuuri pulls out the seat next to him. Jennifer serves out platefuls of curry and rice and just as she puts down a plate beside an empty chair, the front door opens and closes. A minute later, a man that Wolfram guesses is Yuuri and Shouri’s father, enters. He greets everyone, kissing Jennifer’s cheek before sitting at the last plate.

Wolfram was quickly introduced to Shouma and dinner was started. Conversation flowed naturally, ranging from how everyone’s day was at work or school to heated debates over which sports team was the best. It was weirdly comforting in how normal it was. And the thing that Wolfram found most weird was that he liked it. He enjoyed listening to what everyone else had been doing that day, hearing Yuuri give the rest of the family an update on the youngest child who could not be there with them. He enjoyed listening to the different reasons they each had as to why the Red Sox were the best team even though he didn't even know which sport they played. It just felt so normal. Like he was a part of a normal family, not one where his mother had been married and divorced three times and was still out looking for ‘free love’ at her age, even if that meant leaving him at home by himself for a few nights at a time. Not a family where he had two brothers who each had a father of their own.

Of course, Wolfram loved his family, despite all the complaints he had towards them but being here with the Shibuya’s made him wish his family would act even just a little bit similar.

All too soon, the night ended. Wolfram had tried to excuse himself as soon as everyone had finished eating, fearing that he would overstay his welcome but Jennifer insisted that he stay for their movie night. Wolfram had ended up sitting on the floor beside Yuuri, their sides pressed up against each other, giving both a strange feeling of warmth in their cores. When the movie was over, Ken politely thanked Jennifer for the food and bid everyone a goodnight before he left the house to walk home since it was only a five minute walk away. Wolfram followed suit, thanking Jennifer for the food and Yuuri for the invitation, knowing that he would have just had a quick meal in front of the TV if he had been home.

Wolfram had just left the house and made it down the path when the door opened again. Out of curiosity, the blonde turned toward the door to see Yuuri jogging out. He stopped just in front of Wolfram and quickly kissed his cheek before saying, “See you at school.” with a small smile and jogging back to the house, looking back only as he shut the door.

Wolfram stood staring at the Shibuya front door for a while. His cheek felt hot and was suddenly unsure about what it meant. But then, he smiled.

It didn't matter. He could worry about it tomorrow. For now, he would content himself in believing that he had a chance with the black-haired, black-eyed boy.


End file.
